MovieMantz Review: ‘I Am Legend’

The Living ‘Legend’

by Scott Mantz

“I Am Legend”
Starring: Will Smith, Abbey the Dog
Directed by: Francis Lawrence

The year is 2007, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a bigger star on the planet than Will Smith. He’s so big, in fact, that maybe he should change his nickname from “Big Willie” to “Really Big Willie,” thanks to a worldwide box office tally that’s more than $4 billion (and counting) and an incredible run of success that shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

But in his latest movie, the year is 2012, and his character, a military scientist named Robert Neville, isn’t just the biggest man in the world — he’s the only man in the world. At least, he’s the only man who hasn’t been infected by a killer virus that wiped out most of humanity and turned the remaining survivors into vicious, bloodthirsty mutants.

With the exception of his trusty German shepherd Sam (real name: Abbey), he’s on his own. In an effort to keep his sanity, he spends his days hunting for wildlife in the concrete jungles of New York City, putting golf balls from the deck of the USS Intrepid, and — most importantly — finding a cure for the infection. But when the sun goes down, he battens down the hatches in his humble abode, which will (hopefully) withstand the forces of the savages lurking right outside his door.

And there you have “I Am Legend,” the third, the biggest and, by far, the best big screen adaptation of the post-apocalyptic sci-fi allegory written by Richard Matheson back in 1954. The first was 1964’s low-budget Italian production “The Last Man on Earth,” which starred Vincent Price and was set in Rome, while the second — and far better known version — was 1971’s “The Omega Man,” which starred macho Charlton Heston and was set in Los Angeles.

Boasting a budget of more than $150 million, the latest adaptation — directed by Francis Lawrence (“Constantine”) from a screenplay written by Mark Protosevich and Akiva Goldsman (“A Beautiful Mind”) — could best be described as a cross between “Cast Away” and “28 Days Later.” The sight of vegetation encroaching on a deserted metropolis the size of Manhattan never ceases to amaze, while the intensity continues to build until the freaks come out at night.

That’s pretty expensive for a Hollywood production that pretty much serves as a one-man show for Will Smith, but the two-time Oscar-nominee carries the weight of the world on his shoulders without breaking a sweat (okay, maybe he sweats a little). As it is, his unforgettable tour-de-force performance is a lot stronger than a film like this probably deserves, which effectively makes it more of a gripping character study than a special effects-laden action film.

But when it does become an action film, it becomes a little too run of the mill to maintain its complexity. Though some scenes are exceptionally well staged and bristle with intensity, others become less so, since the infected humans look too computer-generated and lack the smarts to give Neville an emotionally engaging archenemy to match wits with. The last act also tries too hard to end the film on an upbeat note, but these are minor flaws, since the movie is so entertaining.

After languishing in development hell for more than a decade, “I Am Legend” has seen some notable A-listers come and go, like directors Ridley Scott and Michael Bay and actors Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tom Cruise and Michael Douglas. But it’s hard to imagine anyone pulling it off quite like Will Smith, and seeing as how he already saved the day in films like “Independence Day,” “Men in Black” and “I Robot,” it’s obvious that the world couldn’t be in better hands.

VERDICT: SEE IT!